Learning to Drive Later in Life: Miriam’s Inspirational Story

Meet Miriam! Having led a busy life as a mother of two and a teacher, Miriam didn’t have time to master driving. She gave it a shot after welcoming her son into the world, but her confidence was knocked after failing a test. At the time, having not long been a new mum and with the end of her maternity leave looming, the stress of a full-time career and family life meant that Miriam had little time or energy to accomplish her driving goals.

Living on the outskirts of London, public transport was never too much of an issue. However, Miriam and her husband retired to rural Hampshire, a place full of memories for the family.

Unfortunately, in November of 2020, Miriam's husband sadly passed away. Her world had been pulled from under her feet, but she knew life must continue. And that's when her daughter's partner recommended PassMeFast because travelling nine miles on an unreliable bus service was becoming too much.

Initially having booked a 35-hour PassMeFast course, it became apparent that some extra hours were needed to get ready for the practical test. After we heard her inspirational story, we reached out to Miriam as an extension of our 'Surprise & Delight' campaign and was able to offer an extra 10 hours—free of charge—to help her on her way.

Since then, Miriam has passed her theory test. She said this left her shocked for days, but we knew she’d breeze through it! Her lessons are also going well — after her initial worries, she feels she's got 'over the hill' of learning to drive and is now perfecting her manoeuvres.

It's safe to say that Miriam is well on her way to becoming a qualified driver at the age of 66!

This is Miriam’s advice to anyone looking to pass their driving test later in life:

‘We’re all lifelong learners and it's never too late to learn anything. While it has been nerve-wracking at times, it's not been the ordeal that I thought it would be and others in my situation should give it a go.'

Although driving lessons can be stressful at times, Miriam says she hopes that others enjoy their lessons with PassMeFast as much as she does.